Marrakech

I like to share with you my holiday experience in Marrakech-Morocco which I enjoyed very much in the last few days. Marrakech is called the red city because most of  buildings are made of red stones. The buildings look historic with a traditional Arabic touch . They look like little castles. Most of the people speak either French or a very strong local dialect which I found it difficult to understand. I had to communicate with them in classic Arabic which we both understood. The weather was cool – about 12 Celsius and there was some rain. The air was so pure and fresh that you can feel it in your lungs, its so soothing and relaxing. I was told that many asthmatic patients go to Marrakech to be cured. I also was told that the sand in the desert is used to treat people with rheumatoid. The treatment is conducted by digging a hole for the patient to jump in and is covered by sands.The patient must withstand the hot sands for the payoff is worth it.

Most of the people are friendly and down to earth. However when you go shopping you need to have good bargain skills otherwise you will end up paying lots of money. You also need to have small currency (Dirham) for you will be paying tips for the people who offer you services whether in the hotel, souq (bazar) or restaurants. Its not compulsory to give tips but its considered polite to do so.

I went to an oil factory that produces Argan oil and its derivatives such as soaps, creams, lotions, some types of nutrition and etc.This oil is very popular and is only produced in Marrakech. Its health benefits are many; it is used to cure high cholesterol, blood pressure, dermatologist diseases and many other uses.

The food is lovely; lots of meat. The two most common dishes are Tajine and Couscous; they are served with either meat or chicken. Big restaurants offer you a main service which contains many dished served separately one after one and its very stomach-filling.

Up the Atlas mountains where you can see the snow on top are Barbarian villages occupied by the original and the oldest inhibitants of Morocco – the Barbarians. I met them at one of villages called Erika. They took me around and inside their houses and to be honest they look fantastic (look at the photos).

I never had a Moroccan hammam , despite the fact that I heard many people using it and recommending  it. So I told myself that this is my opportunity to try it in the original country. I searched the web while I was in the hotel reception and found good comments about Ziani hammam . I took a taxi and headed there. The hammam looked traditional full of steam. There were some European tourists . The whole experience was terrific and overwhelming. The scraping and messaging was rough but effective. I became a much cleaner man.

My stay in Marrakech was short- only 4 days, however everyday was full of rich experiences. Please enjoy the photos (click on the image to see the album).

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Tags: Argan, Hammam Ziani, Holiday, Marrakech, Morocco, Travel

What can Games teach us about Money Part 1

Well let me tell you about my story 8 years ago.I was involved with a network marketing company and to be honest they were great. They teach you a lot of good stuff about sales , marketing, motivation and dealing with people. No matter how bad or good the product is , you still can grab good life lessons for success. While I was with them , one day, I was reading a very successful network marketer’s website  in the US. He was talking about a life changing book that affected him deeply and made him focused about success especially in his financial life. The book Rich Dad Poor Dad which was written by a very famous American entrepreneur Robert Kiyosaki. I immediately bought the book , and I was too shocked by the way he presented life facts and money issues. He mentioned something very important about GAMES and that’s what I want to focus about in this post. He said that playing games and not any game but games about or involves money is a good exercise for real life and real money. He took this advice from his rich dad and the only game that was available back then was the famous Monopoly board game.

So what can Monopoly can teach us about money ?

According to John Rosenberg from Best Family Games there are few lessons:

1-  Invest your money

2-  Negotiate always

3- Take chances

4- Always have cash

Another game that I really enjoyed and learned a lot from it about money is “Cash Flow” made by Rich Dad Poor Dad company. The basic goal of this game is how to escape from the rat race. The rat race is a financial predicament in which many people fall into. They are trapped by the excess of expenses over income and by bad debts other than assets. The game comes into two forms: board and video game.

Famrville in Facebook is very popular and a hit. The game brings many lessons about money . One of the lessons is how to understand a very important financial concept: return of investment (ROI). Christopher S Penn suggests a useful economic principle on how to invest in frequent sellable items with small margins rather than investing in big margin items.

These games above illustrate  an example of the power of gaming. Like I mentioned in my post Stock Market Simulation Game how you can practise investing your virtual money so you can feel comfortable doing it and confident about your skills. I believe that the gaming industry is shifting towards providing good games with special experiences that can teach us and our kids many lessons that we can not do in real life. This part is a start and Part 2 is a continuation of this gaming journey.

Tags: Cash Flow, educational tools, Farmville, Games, Money Skills, Monopoly, Video Games